


Skyhold (Part Two)

by Willowflower_Waterlily



Series: I Promised You Forever (Evelyn and Malcolm Hawke series 3) [4]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Titles, Post-Canon, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 01:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4686680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowflower_Waterlily/pseuds/Willowflower_Waterlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evelyn and Malcolm at Skyhold, set a couple of days after the previous story in the series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skyhold (Part Two)

Malcolm watches Evelyn sleep, shivering under a pile of blankets. He thinks back to when they first met, at the inn. Was it their meeting that led her to his grave? Would she have been happier if they never met? Was she happy with her life before?

Sitting on the side of the bed, Malcolm sighs, worry creasing his brows. Was he happy before? It always felt like he was coasting through life, waiting for something to happen. Who is he really? Is he the son of a businessman or the son of a mage? His lives flash in his mind, alternating between the two. He holds his hands to his head, trying to force his memories to untangle.

The Inquisitor and an elderly woman walk into the room, distracting Malcolm from his soul searching. “Malcolm, I am sorry. I didn’t realize this would happen.”

“What did you think was going to happen when you told us about our daughter?” Malcolm snaps, trying not to give in to his anger. There was no way anyone would have known how the news was going to affect Evelyn.

Rubbing his nose, he takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m sorry. It’s just been a lot to take in. Evelyn and I have two sets of memories in our heads, and hearing about what happened to our eldest. Our children are gone, and I might lose Evelyn again. Why did the Maker send us back?” Malcolm turns away from Evelyn to face Cailan, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“I wish I could tell you.” Cailan glances past Malcolm to Evelyn, sadness clouding his features, guilt in his eyes. “Come with me, please. I need to show you something. It may help you find closure. The First Enchanter will take good care of Evelyn. She is one of the finest women I know.”

Malcolm shifts his gaze to the grey haired woman. She ducks her head looking away, her cheeks pink from blushing. There’s something familiar about her to Malcolm, but he pushes the thought out of his head. Malcolm leans over Evelyn, kissing her cheek. “Don’t leave me, please. I need you.”

 

Evelyn awakens to the clicking noises of someone knitting. Rubbing her eyes, she tries to sit up, but a pair of hands stops her. “Easy now, you’ve been unconscious for a couple of days. You don’t want to move too quickly.” Evelyn takes a mug of water from the other woman’s wrinkled hands. She studies her while taking a sip of water.

“Who are you?” Evelyn asks unable to shake the feeling she’s met this woman before. There’s just something familiar about her.

The older woman shifts uncomfortably under her gaze. When she looks up at Evelyn again, there are tears shimmering in her blue-grey eyes. “I am First Enchanter Lucy Hawke.”

Evelyn stares at Lucy slack jawed, unable to reconcile the differences between the little girl in her head and the elderly woman in front of her. The shock of seeing her youngest daughter old makes it hard for Evelyn to breathe. Sitting down on the side of the bed, Lucy sets her hand on Evelyn’s chest casting a healing spell while she coaches Evelyn through taking deep breaths.

When she’s finally able to breathe regularly again, Evelyn reaches out to her daughter, tracing the lines on her face. “My baby Lu Lu,” Evelyn whispers, crying. She didn’t think any of her babies were still alive. Nearly seventy years passed since Evelyn was killed in that life.

“Did you have a good life?” Evelyn wipes away her tears. Lucy nods, smiling sadly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you and your siblings. It was my fault, all of it.”

“You did what you could, and we all knew you loved us.” Lucy holds Evelyn’s hands. “You saved us, and everyone in the Hinterlands. You were a hero then. It’s not your fault you died, or that daddy died.”

“And Leandra and Will?” Evelyn closes her eyes, guilt settling in the pit of her stomach.

“I wish Cailan let me tell you about them. Maybe it would have eased the shock coming from me.” Lucy grumbles, glowering at the door. “It wasn’t your fault either. Those Templars were attacking anyone from the Inquisition. It was bad luck that put them there. Those bastards were taken care of.”

Evelyn watches a shadow cross Lucy’s face. Now that she knows who she is, Evelyn can see the features she remembers, but if she didn’t know… “You weren’t supposed to tell me who you are, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t. Daddy left with Cailan, and I didn’t tell him. He looked at me though, like he knew me from somewhere.” Lucy’s lower lip quivers, her eyes glistening. Evelyn squeezes her hands, not knowing what else to do. It kills her inside that she and Malcolm are causing her so much pain. “I’m going to tell him, and damn the consequences. I am an old woman, my life is nearly over. I know it’s selfish, but I need this time with you and daddy.”

“We need it too, my baby girl.” An image of a then five year old Lucy appears in Evelyn’s mind, covered in flour and standing defiantly. Evelyn smiles at the memory. She meets Lucy’s gaze to find her smiling too.

 

Malcolm kneels in front of three gravestone in the garden, small triangles marking where the ashes of three of his children’s and their partners’ ashes were buried. An ache in his chest builds until it’s too painful to ignore. Why were he and Evelyn brought back? Was this some cruel joke being played on them by the Maker? To live again, but mourn everyone they ever loved or cared for.

He traces the names on the stones, rivers of tears flowing down his cheeks. Malcolm prays they had happiness, that they lived as well as they could. It puzzles him that Lucy’s grave isn’t there. Where would she have been buried, if not with her siblings?

Malcolm sits, talking to his children. He opens up to them as he hasn’t with anyone else, telling them about the confusion in his heart and mind, and that the only thing he’s certain of is his love for them and their mother.

 

Walking into the room, Malcolm feels both relieved and confused. He stands in the doorway, watching Evelyn talking with the First Enchanter like she’s known her forever. Studying the elderly woman for the first time, really looking at her something clicks in his mind. Dropping the bag with all of his children’s journals and letters in it, he closes the distance between himself and the women.

“Lucy,” Malcolm whispers, pulling her into his arms. “I’m so sorry I left you and your siblings. That I was too weak to survive my grief.”

Lucy pulls herself out of her father’s arms, keeping her gaze locked with his. She shakes her head, frowning. “Don’t be sorry, I know what it feels like to lose the people you love.” Fighting back tears, she wipes away the few that escape down her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she exhales slowly, thinking about everyone who died. “If I wasn’t able to be active, I doubt I would be here now. I think the same is true for you. I think if you weren’t bed ridden, you would have lived.”

She watches her father mull over her words, her heart clenching at the thought of what she must tell them. Lucy never thought she would see her parents again, and to have them back now. It makes her wish she had more time. Lucy stares at her parents, they look both the same as and different than she remembers them.

The silence in the room weighs on Lucy’s heart, making it heavy with grief. “I don’t have much time left.” Lucy’s quiet voice is laced with pain as she speaks. Her parents embrace her, holding her between them as she cries.

“How much time do you have left?”

Leaning into her father, she doesn’t want to answer, because saying the words out loud would make it real. “No more than a week. I have been ill for a long time. I’ve kept a healing aura up, but I can’t maintain it indefinitely. I was going to dispel it, but then I heard about the two of you. I had to see if it was true, and if it was I wanted to see you both one more time.”

Closing her eyes, Lucy pretends that she’s little again, and that her family is together and whole. She pictures Leandra, Junior, and Solana outside their home working on chores with their parents. They joke and take breaks to play with her, because she’s still too little to do most things around the house.

Holding that warmth in her heart, Lucy opens her eyes again. “Will you stay with me, until the end?” She asks, her voice sounding small.

Her parents squeeze her tightly between them, their tears soaking into her dress. “Of course we will, my Lu Lu.”

“I love you, mommy and daddy.” Shutting her eyes, Lucy dispels her aura. She slumps in her parents’ arms, a wave of weakness washing over her. Lucy feels someone pick her up, gently laying her down on the bed. Listening to her parents voices, she hears them tell her how much they love her and wish they could have been there for her. Their voices fade, and soon Lucy hears her sisters’ and brother’s voices calling out to her. A sense of peace envelopes her as she follows the path their voices lead her down.


End file.
